Interesting note:
Dexter Fowler says that the Baltimore deal fell through, at least in part, because the wanted him to pay them the value of the forfeited draft pick (the Cubs had made a qualifying offer). He said okay, on the condition that they give him an opt-out clause. When the Orioles balked, he decided not to sign.
Stupid for the O’s to present it to a player that way. Your draft picks are not his problem.
Agreed. And it doesn’t happen with every go,e run so there seems to be no problem.
Citing an undisclosed personal issue, Chicago White Sox first baseman Adam Laroche suddenly announces his retirement.
Apparently the Marlins held a ‘home run derby’ this morning. The winner?
The issue has apparently now been disclosed:
Wow!
LaRoche is an idiot.
I was just reading about this on another site and I cannot believe the number of people who think LaRoche is setting a great example or being “the best dad” or “putting family over work”. He’s acting like spoiled child who took advantage of the “it’s ok to bring your kids sometimes” rule and got pissy when he was called out on it.
I see both sides of this. I know that he’s got half a year off, but it’s one of those “cat’s in the cradle/wish I’d spent more time at the office” kind of deals.
$13 million is a lot of money. But spending time with your kids is, from what my friends who them say, priceless
How much did LaRoche make last year? Once you get past a certain point, the money is meaningless. Being with your kid is priceless.
I’ve read this would have been Year 2 of a $25M deal.
It may also have affected his decision that he didn’t hit for shit last year.
I think this covers it. In short, the request to cut back was very reasonable, LaRoche had to have been looking for a reason to quit, and the White Sox are probably better now that he has.
FTR, I have watched Adam LaRoche since his time in the Carolina League, always liked him. Good luck to him and his family in their post-baseball life.
How many other people are allowed to bring their kids to the workplace all day, every day?
Sounds like he’s the baseball equivalent of a coworker who is a nice person but has so many family emergencies that your office is better off without them
Apparently the Sox players threatened to boycott yesterday’s game until there was a closed door meeting.
Maybe they need a hard and fast rule about kids in the clubhouse? Kids come on Tuesdays and Fridays or something.
Yesterday’s Germany-Nicaragua game was the most fun game I’ve seen this year.
LaRoche just posted a statement about what actually happened. According to him, he had an agreement with the team last year that he could bring his son, and was surprised when he was asked to scale it back significantly, and then to not bring his son at all.
Bizarre play where Yoenis Cespedes refused to bend down and pick up a ball that had landed under the center field wall and sort of settled there; A. J. Reed (who will probably never get another) got an inside-the-park home run off of it.
Players use Spring Training to get back up to speed mentally as well as physically.